Sunday Soundbite for June 3, 2018

Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Cycle B

June 3, 2018

Some years ago I was privileged to attend a Passover Seder with a Jewish family. It was a truly special night, since my hosts welcomed guests who had recently come from a country behind the then-crumbling Iron Curtain. It was their first Seder as truly free people.

My Seder hosts understood a timeless truth: that they were celebrating God’s liberating deeds in the Exodus, as well as God’s continuing care down through the ages. Eating the Seder meal is a way to experience the power of that liberation, as our special guests that night knew better than any of us.

Our Scriptures today emphasize the Jewish roots of our Eucharist. We hear how Moses and the people celebrated their liberating covenant with God. Our second reading connects that covenant with Jesus, our high priest. We hear in the Gospel how he asked his disciples to prepare the Passover meal, a meal where he would give them his body and blood as food.

It’s rare we Christians have the chance to welcome to the Sunday Eucharist at our parish, people who have escaped tyranny and oppression, but it’s our faith that each Mass allows those present to experience liberation—from selfishness, from sin, from the burdens of human existence. May we celebrate each Eucharist aware of the liberating presence of Jesus Christ.

Sunday Soundbites is a weekly, 90-second radio homily based on the Sunday readings, written and read by Franciscan Father Greg Friedman. Sunday Soundbites is also heard on Catholic radio stations around the country.

From Father Greg Friedman

Franciscan Father Greg Friedman is the former host of American Catholic Radio. During his years at Franciscan Media,Father Greg wrote and directed Assisi Pilgrimage: Walking in Faith with Francis and Clare, which appeared on ABC-TV stations nationwide, and received a 2008 Telly Award for Excellence.

Currently, Father Greg is stationed at the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington, D.C.